way? friday, october 5. "starting point" begins right now. ♪ morning. welcome to friday. our "starting point" this morning is a bit of an about-face for mitt romney. new this morning, the gop candidate is walking back those controversial remarks about the 47%. now he saying he was, quote, completely wrong. listen. >> clearly in a campaign with hundreds, if not thousands of speeches and question is and answers sessions, now and then you will say something that doesn't come out right. i said somethi that's just completely wrong. and i absolutely believe, however, that my life has shown that i care about 100%. and that's been demonstrated throughout my life. this whole campaign is about the 100%. when i become president it will be about helping the 100%. >> white house correspondent brianna keilar joins from us washington, d.c., this morning.

i thought it was interesting. he has just come off of a great debate performance and his campaign is completely rejuvenated. and now in a way it is like we are circling back to the 47% which, frankly the president didn't even bring up in that debate. what do you make of that? >> that's right. you know what's interesting is according to "the new york times," aides say romney wanted to correct the record during the debate but bit obama didn't bring it up so he couldn't. this is something he really wanted to distance himself from, soledad, because it has been seen as the source of a lot of problems for mitt romney in the last month. we saw polls widen between president obama and mitt romney especially in key battleground states. but make no mistake the obama campaign is not going to let him get away completely with this reversal. they have been running campaign ads with his own words in the fund-raiser and i think we are going to see them continue to hit him on the 47% and say you know what, this is what we think he accident there's also conversations about an obama flip-flop as well. tell me about that. >> this is kind of a flip-flop,

i would say, on enthusiasm or tone. i think whether we were watching president obama on wednesday, it was very much a passive president obama. certainly wasn't what i was expecting, having been object the campaign trail with president obama. he campaigned yesterday in denver in wisconsin and really fired up and really calling mitt romney on what he saw smas of his inconsistencies during the debate. the problem is 67 million-plus people watched that debate. that was really the place where he needed to call mitt romney out. i guarantee you not that many people saw his comments from yesterday. even close to the dab. >> nowhere near that amount. brianna keilar. let me ask you a quick question about the jobs numbers. we are expecting those at 8:30. it might be the most watched job numbers before the election, i would guess. >> that's right. we are watching them and remember they also come out that friday before the election. so we will be watching that as well. this is number two and then number one will be right before the election. we are not expecting this to be

good for president obama. these aren't expected to be great jobs numbers. it is unclear how good they would be for mitt romney if they are significantly worse than expected, then obviously that's going to play to mitt romney's favor. the obama campaign, as they said all along, soledad, don't look at the individual number. look at the trajectory and if you look at job numbers as a whole over the last years, things are heading in the right direction. not fast enough. other thing, remember, pay attention to the battleground states because you look at places like ohio, unemployment there is about 1 percentage point below the national average. and you are seeing president obama do pretty well in the polls considering. we will be keeping an eye there, too. >> appreciate it. ahead this morning, the romney campaign is going to weigh in. we are speaking with georgia republican congressman phil gingrey. we want to get john to update us on today's top stories. >> good morning. people in almost half of the states in the country now at risk of the deadly outbreak of fungal meningitis.

at least five people are dead. 35 people infected in six states. the steroid medication linked to the outbreak was sent to 23 states. more infections are still possible. that steroid which is typically used to treat back pain is injected into patients' spines. in these cases they were contaminated with the fungus. the company that made the medication has voluntarily recalled it. thousands of air travelers could be grounded today. problem with loose seats forcing american airlines to cancel more flights and pull more planes out of service this morning. 48 boeing 757s have been called in for maintenance. so far nearly 1 is 00 flights have beenle. he -- been idle. it is called a seat lock plunger. they believe it caused seats to come loose on three different flights. the airline is blaming poor design and spilled coffee and soda. they say that may cause the seats to come unhinged. an american opens fire. at least one person is dead.

initial reports say the gunman grabbed the security guard's weapon and shot a hotel worker and barricaded himself in the hotel. later gunman was killed. lee weeks later u.s. special operations forces are now in libya helping gather intel on militants who were allegedly involved in the attack on the american consulate in benghazi that killed four americans. military officials tell cnn that includes intercepting communications and analyzing drone images and one object one interviews with people who have information. the military is also providing security for an fbi team that's now on the ground. the first two weeks of the national hockey season now officially on ice. canceled. league canceled regular season games through october 24 because of the player lockout. negotiations between the nhl and the players union are stalled on a new labor contract. tonight two wild card matchups in baseball. it is a new one and done format where the winner moves on and loser goes home. american league, surprising

baltimore orioles that made the yankees sweat a little and will take on the rangers and josh hamilton in arlington. first pitch, 8:37 p.m. eastern. national league, it is the defending champion st. louis cardinals facing the atlanta braves in atlanta. start time is 5:07 eastern. a golden anniversary for the spy with the midas touch. >> bond. james bond. >> mr. bond, i suppose you wouldn't care to -- >> sean connery, original james bond. "dr. no." it premiered 50 years ago today. season write pictures and 20th century fox are celebrating global james bond day with events around the world, "sky fall," the 23rd bond feature will hit theaters in just a few weeks. >> crush on sean connery. >> your favorite bond? >> yeah. i had a couple of favorite bonds. i think daniel craig is terrific. sean connery, he was hand

studded handsome man. we return to our top story this morning. mitt romney now saying he was completely wrong. that's a quote for his remarks about the 47% who don't pay income tax. listen. >> stepping away from anything you said in your video, are you not backing away from it? do you worry you offended this 47% who you mentioned? >> well, you know, it is not elegantly stated. let me put it that way. speaking off the cuff in response to a question and i was -- thousands of speeches and question and answer sessions. now and then you are going to say something that doesn't come out right. in this case i said something that's just completely wrong. i absolutely believe, however, that my life has shown that i care about 100%. >> so that first club was with what governor romney said and what was a hastily called press conference after the tape was released. that second clip was what we heard yesterday from governor romney. now saying completely wrong.

let's get to georgia congress n congressman -- nice to sigh, sir. we are having technical difficulties. we will get to him as soon as we can fix those. let me ask you a question, john. spent a lot of time on the campaign trail. i was surprised when governor romney had these comments, i think he was talking to sean hannity last night. because it felt like all he should be talking about is by the way, did you see me in the debate? and to bring up something that took -- was a very difficult for the campaign seemed like an unwise twist or turn. >> it did not come up with the debate which was shocking enough. why let it be a topic of discussion in an interview, friendly interview, if we can say that with fox news in what was more remarkable it was clear evolution. this is a vastly different answer he gave right away. >> when you say evolution you mean what? >> i mean the story really clanged. he stands by the comments p.m.

last night he said those comments are completely wrong. in what's fascinating to me is he clearly had a prepared answer that he was prepared to give in the debate on wednesday night if president obama brought that up. why is he bringing it up to sean hannity last night? if he likes his response so much why not wait until the second debate? >> it seems to me to -- i felt it pulled focus from what was a great debate, today the story would be the number of people who watched that debate and it is a record, 67 million people. talk about delivering at a moment when you needed to deliver. it was really governor romney who did that and not the president who did that. and now lot of the conversation is like -- are you -- were you just being dishon test first time you said it? are you being dishonest the second time? >> i used the word evolution. that's one of the criticisms. not that will are many. one is he's getting is the policies he laid out in the debate are actually quite different than what he has been talking about on the stump in general for the last several month. >> we have a chance to talk to

phil gingrey. is the this the etch a sketch moment when was said on our air, etch a sketch moment. maybe this is what we are seeing. we have a lot to get to. i-want to tell you what's ahead this morning. big bird fans in a frenzy. that's fair to say over the comments from governor romney during that debate that he would cut funding from pbs. lavar burton says that it outraged him as well and will talk about that straight ahead. a high schooler ridiculed for wearing a mitt romney t-shirt to school. we will tell you what happened there. it is our get real. christine will take a look at what's coming up in bus. >> a little thing called the september jobs report. >> oh, that. >> it could be pretty important. will it sway the upcoming presidential election? plus, we have gotten used to $3 a gallon. $4. how about $6? it is not pain at the pump.

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with chantix and with the support system it worked. it worked for me. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor if chantix is right for you. point." i'm christine romans. on jobs day, september jobs report releases at 8:30 a.m. eastern. sluggish jobs growth. 110,000 jobs added in the month of unemployment rate of 8.1%. only one more jobs report after this one before election day. u.s. stock futures are up slightly ahead of this report. some gas stations forced to shut down as gas prices soar to a shocking level in california. aaa says the average price for a gallon of regular gas has hit $4.48. it is above $5 in some parts of the state. spike due to a fuel shortage as a result of refinery and pipeline outages. i will take that commute. about 13.4 million amerins are

now working from home. that's up 41% in the past ten years. yeah. according to the census bureau this is, you know, a couple of things driving the trend. high-speed internet access and services like skype. also, because, frankly, soledad, some people are not finding a job out there, getting in the car and going to an office. they are trying to make work from are home opportunities. >> interesting. huge increase. i'm surprised by that. okay. thank you. president obama and mitt romney may be back on the campaign ultra today but there is one moment from the debate that people are still talking about. this would be it. >> i will eliminate all programs by this test if they don't pass it. is the program so critical that it is worth borrowing money from china to pay for it? if not i will get rid of it. obama care is on my list. i use that term with all respect. okay. good. so i get rid of that. i'm sorry, jim. i will stop the subsidy to pbs and stop other things. i like pbs. i love big bird.

i actually like you, too. i'm not going to keep on spending money on things to borrow money from china to pay for. >> it that remark about stopping funding of big bird -- i like big bird. social media mentions big bird went up 800,000%. >> that's outside the margin of error. >> on facebook afterward. pbs lovers. sesame street lovers were very, very angry. including actor lavar burton. he hosted "reading rainbow." thanks for talking with us. the ceo of pbs said that nearly fell off the couch while watching the debate and heard that particular part of the debate. what was your reaction? did you have the same reaction? >> i was outraged. i couldn't believe the man actually fixed his mouth to say that. an attack on children. it is an attack on children and attack on children who come from -- disenfranchised, you

know, background. pbs is the nation's largest classroom. it guarantees equal access to the wonderfulness that pbs provided for almost 50 years in this country. to callously, blatantly, say that it is -- on the agenda to cut is just -- it is not okay. because look, clearly this candidate -- you don't believe that mitt romney is a bad guy. but i do believe that he believes what he said the other night. and i believe that his comment about the 47% is actually what he believes. >> let me ask you a question. because mitt romney would say -- if you listened to the last part chunk he said i'm not going to keep spending money to borrow money to pay for it. when i spoke to sherry westin before the debate, she said that

sometimes people confuse funding for pbs and "sesame street." i will play a little bit of what she told me. >> a "sesame street" workshop receives very little funding. through corporate underwriting, sponsorship. quite frankly, you know, you can debate whether or not there should be funding of public broadcasting but when they always tout out big bird and say we will kill big bird that's misleading. "sesame street" will be here. >> big bird lives. >> big bird lives on. >> what is the argument for funding public broadcasting? one argument i would think it is such a tiny percentage of the federal budget conversations about cutting it does not save you money and bring money back into the budget. why do you think that pbs should not be on the cutting room floor or whatever? cutting table? whatever the phrase is. >> again, goes back for me to the issue of access.

it is -- it is preand commercial free environment and it is -- it is -- universally accessible to anyone with a television which is nnch this country. and if you can't afford cable, if you can't afford premium content, you can rely on the public broadcasting service. is pbs perfect? no. have they provided through their children's programming for almost 50 years some of the finest educational content worldwide for our nation's children? absolutely. does it deserve to be on the chopping block? >> that's the word i was looking for. chopping block. thank you for helping me out. >> chopping block. here is -- here's something i would like to point out, soledad. i know in this current economic climate we have to make different choices. however, i was raised by a woman whose philosophy it was to give her children the best education she could not afford.

do you understand what i'm saying? >> value in the free. >> we have to make the investment in our children if we expect for them to pay off on that investment through their realizing their most full potential. so there are places where you can cut. there are places where you need to cut. there are places that you just don't cut because it is not right. >> for you that would be pbs. lavar burton, of course, was host andive and producer -- xifr producer of "reading rainbow." you heard mitt romney backtracking on the 47% remark. he says now that he was completely wrong. could that backfire? we will talk to congress canman beginningry next. oh...there you go. wooohooo....hahaahahaha!

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. welcome back. paleontologist said he identified fossils from one of the smallest dinosaurs to walk the earth more than 200 million years ago. this newly discover species had a body less than would feet long and no bigger than a cat. check out this image from 200 miles above the surface of mars. people speculating they are anything from sunbathing colonies of spiders to giant alien worms. these pictures were taken by the mars reconnaissance orbiter a couple of years ago. >> maybe we will never know. welcome, everybody. our team this morning -- everybody is a little happy.

richard is way down the end in what we call the honorary will cain seat. margaret hooper is with us. charles blow, "new york times" columnist. nice to see you all this morning. the big news this morning, of course, mitt romney saying he was completely wrong for his remarks about the 47% who don't pay income tax. let's listen to what he said yesterday. >> clearly in a campaign with hundreds, if not thousands, of speeches and question and answer sessions, now and then you will say something that doesn't come out right. in this case i said something that's completely wrong. and i absolutely believe, however, that my life has shown that i care about 100%. >> georgia republican congressman phil gingrey joins us this morning. what was your reaction to hearing that clip which was the governor's interview with sean hannity last night? >> soledad, exactly right. and he cares about the 100%. i think he showed that in the debate a couple of nights ago.

the real deal. the sincere, the caring, the compassionate, the strong mitt romney. and so i think his -- remark was exactly right to walk back and admitted he made a mistake. and -- the fact that he cares about 100%. that's the bottom line. >> some people might say well, that's just politically expedient. if you look at the history of that remark, back on september 17 in what was a hastily called press conference, he didn't say i made a mistake, i'm walking back that report. i was completely wrong. he said this. let's play it. >> if you are not stepping away anything in this video, not backing away, do you worry you offended the 47% you mentioned? >> it is not elegantly stated. i'm speaking off the cuff in response to a question and i'm sure i can state it more clearly and in a more effective way. >> he said it was off the cuff

and it was sort of inelegantly stated. the next day when he was talking to -- i think neil cavuto, he said i meant what i said and he said this. let's play that. >> this is a message i'm carrying day in ask day out. this is a decision about the course of america. >> today he is admitting he was wrong in your words. isn't that just being a flip-flopper? >> i don't think so at all. i think he got it right when he spoke with sean hannity last night when he said i care about 100% of the people. it doesn't matter what income level they are at. and in particular, i care very strongly about the middle class and he made that point during the debate over and over again. >> he surely did. >> obama's dismay. >> i think you are right about that. my point would be that is completely contradictory to what he said the day after the original remark which was

basically i meant what i said. this is a message i'm caring day in and day out and will carry over the coming months. one of those has to be true. either what he said on the 18th or what he said yesterday. isn't that the definition of a flip-flopper? >> i think what he said yesterday, soledad, was 100% true. >> so president obama said that adifferent mitt romney showed up at the debate. of course, he is trying to spin, you know, his not great performance in the debate or poor performance. here is what he said. listen. >> whoever it was that was on stage last night doesn't want to be held accountable for what the real mitt romney has been saying for the last year. that's because he knows full well that we don't want what he has been selling over the last year. governor romney may dance around his positions. he may do a tap dance and two-step. but if you want to be president, then you owe the american people the truth. >> the president neglected to

say that during the debate but doesn't he have a point there as he was on the campaign trail he was dancing around and this is now a flip from what he said very -- you know -- specifically before? >> i have been watching and involved in presidential politics since 1960 when i first voted. and therepublican, the conservative candidate, the primary, is always going to lean right and come back to the center for the general, the opposite for the democrat. that's all you are seeing here. it is very typical. we strong conservatives understand that. there are a lot of undecides in th this country. this is campaign strategy. this is nothing new under the sun. and president obama understands that. for sure. >> okay. then let's walk through that a little bit. when eric was on my show not so long ago back on march 21, he talked about the etch a sketch moment and what you described,

sir, very much sounds to me like an etch a sketch moment. i will play for you first what eric said. >> i think he hit a reset button for the fall campaign. it is almost like an etch a sketch. you can shake it up and we start all over again. >> is that what you are saying, that this is -- really is a definition of etch a sketch? >> well, i think it was very important for governor romney to let the american people know that he has the capability of working across the aisle, working with the democrats. he explained that carefully in regards to what happened with the health care law in massachusetts. 87% of the legislature in the commonwealth, democrats, and he has the ability to work across the aisle whereas president obama crammed this health care law down the throats of congress and the american people with not one republican vote. didn't even ask for one. he and nancy pelosi and harry

reid. >> the point eloquently during the debate actually in -- i thought he did that very well. that's not exactly my question. my question is what you said is during the campaign, you know, you lean to the right and then you come back to the center when you are actually in the general election. so to me that is you say one thing for a certain audience to get them to support and you then say something different, maybe completely contradictory to another audience which some could define as lying. is that an etch a sketch moment what we are seeing? >> some could refer to that as campaign tactics. good campaign tactics without violating one's principle. i -- nobody is more conservative than -- congress and house than phil gingrey. i'm in the top seven, tied for first. i felt very comfortable with what the president said the other night during the debate. with what mitt romney said. i am very comfortable with his position and i have no doubt that he will govern to the right of center and that's where the american people are.

at the same time, he will use his ability, his knowledge, his humili humility, wisdom to work across the aisle and we have to do it. you know that. we cannot kick the can down the road anymore. we have to avoid this fiscal cliff. a new p romney, our 45th president, will do that. >> you are talking about campaign tactics and that's because an elected official. for me, regular voter, i hear that and i think this is kind of what is wrong with politics. just described -- we take one tactic and then you are going to completely change your position when talking to another audience. when you feel comfortable with that change because you feel that you know that he is going to govern to the right of center even though there are some changes that sound more left when he -- more centrist in wednesday night's debate. i understand someone -- their campaign, that may make sentence for you. for voters it feels like

basically campaigning can be lying. >> well, i wouldn't call it lying. a football team has a lot of players, as you know, whethe coach gives that pep talk, it will -- maybe a little different what he says to the running backs and says to the linemen. but they are all on the same team. you have to pull everybody together. that's all mitt romney is doing. >> all right. okay. sports metaphor on that. i'm sure a lot of people that will disagree with you. nice to see you. we appreciate your time this morning. >> thank you. always good to be with you. still ahead this morning, voter registration fraud, is it growing? one congressman worried it could have a serious impact on this year's election. going to talk to congressman cummings straight ahead. a rare and deadly meningitis outbreak is spreading across the country. we have been talking about this for a couple of days. talk about the source and how you can stay safe yourself. [ male announcer ] this is anna, her long day teaching the perfect swing

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welcome back. deadly meningitis outbreak is growing. at least five people have died. 35 people are infected. let's get back to senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen. she has been following the developments for us. talk to me about the spread. how worried should people who -- you know, who -- i guess are in all these states and are now affected, how worried should we be? >> you should only be worried, soledad, if you got a steroid shot in your back. i can't emphasize that enough. this isn't spreading person to person. it is only going to happen to you if you got a steroid shot in your back and if that steroid was made in the new england compounding center. because here is what happened. apparently what they are looking at is was there a fungus in that because all these people who have gotten sick got a shot from a medicine that was made at that center. so if you got that shot and you are not feeling well you should go to your doctor and say, hey, could it be that shot that i

got? >> okay. obviously they are going to continue to monitor the spread. are they able to track every single person now that has gotten that shot? i would think that wouldn't be so hard, right? >> you know, i think -- it seems like what theyre doing more is trying to get the word out. they are trying to say to doctors, hey, if you had patients who got this shot, and then become ill, you need to put two and two together. i don't know that they are tracking down each individual person. i mean, this -- this medicine went to 75 different facilities and went to, as we have seen, many different states, i don't know that they are doing that kind of effort. >> elizabeth cohen, who has been watching this for us. appreciate the update. john berman has a look at the other stories making news. >> good morning. two years after the bp oil spill, a sheen of oil four miles long has surfaced in the gulf of mexico near the disaster site. coast guard officials don't know where it is coming from. this is file video of what the water looked like. they first learned of the new slick would weeks ago when it

turned up a satellite image. samples have been taken and lab results are expected back within a few weeks. new wildfire threatening dozens of homes in western washington state. more than 100 firefighters are battling the fewer which is about 10% contained. red flag warnings are for fire danger and remain in effect more much of the state. happening right now, check this out. live pictures from denver. a serious morning snowstorm. these are from kmgh. so far no traffic trouble but drivers are being warned to take it slow. it is like october. what's going on there? other news. infamous member of the manson family may soon be out of prison. a california parole board is recommending release for 69-year-old bruce davis. he is serving a life sentence for the 1969 murder of music teacher gary hinman and donald shorty shea. the decision is subject to a 0-day review period. two years ago a california panel also grant pad role to davis but that was overturned by then governor arnold schwarzenegger.

november surprise. new film about the raid that killed osama bin laden will air would days before election day on the "national geographic" channel. the raid is being distributed by producer harvey weinstein. a major backer of president obama. >> that's not a surprise at all. i don't think anybody thinks. >> not at all. it will come out and timed with the jobs report actually. >> no surprise at all. 67 million people watched the first presidential debate where president obama stumbled and fumbled quite a bit. is he going to be able to recover from a lackluster performance? we will talk to elijah cummings. he will be talking to bus that and other things up next. ♪

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mitt romney apparently changing his message this morning. 24 hours after the presidential debate. former governor talked about his 47% remark when he called half of americans victims. first he was standing by the comments saying they were not elegantly stated. now it sounds like he's taking it back. >> clearly in a campaign with ndreds, if not thousands, of speeches, now and then you are going say something that doesn't come out right. i said something that's completely wrong. i absolutely believe, however, that my life has shown that i care about 100%. >> so this could may into a tactics by the democrats because president obama yesterday was questioning governor's honesty during a rally in november. here is a little bit of what he said. >> governor romney may dance around his positions. he may do a tap dance and a

two-step. but if you want to be president, then you owe the american people the truth. >> joining us this morning, democratic congressman cummings of maryland. he is the ranking member of the house oversight committee. nice to see you, sir, as always. >> good morning. >> before we get to governor romney's remarks about the 47%, let's talk about the president. watching him there in that campaign speech, on the campaign trail, much more energy than he had in the actual debate. 67 million people watched that debate and and the president's performance was judged very lacking. dana mill bank for "the washington post" said this. obama was out of practice, unprepared to be challenged. the white house had supposed that he was reallying on such venues, obama's argument skills atrophied. here is eugene robinson. it was not a disaster from obama's point of view but a bad might and missed opportunity. even if the debate had been no

better an draw, obama could have spent the rest of the campaign running out the clock. now romney and the republicans have a new spring in their step. they believe they can win. what was the impact, do you think, of that debate? >> i think the limited polling has been done, that the impact has been very, very limited. the -- the fact is that this president came out and he laid out very carefully his plan for the future. and what he has done. and, again, mr. -- you talked about etch a sketch. we don't know what mr. romney is about. on one hand he talked for the last 18 is months about a $5 trillion tax cut and the next thing you know, abracadabra, it is gone. etch a sketch moment. i think this president laid out what he wants to do with regard to helping this country, the middle class, do better. making sure we have jobs, making sure we have -- repair our

infrastructure and preparing our young people for this global society. so -- you know -- >> but you -- but you started, sir did a. >> let me say this. >> let me stop you, if i may. you started by saying the limited polng shows that it didn't have much of an impact. i don't know what limited polling you are talking about. because one, i don't think enough time has passed for the real polls to take mace. the polling that was done immediately, cnn's polling, done immediately after the debate by people that watched the debate it was devastating. numbers flipped. a very wide, you know, multiple point margin for governor romney. so i think that you are mistaken on that front. >> well, based upon what i understand, it has been limited. we will see. we won't really see the full impact until a few days from now. but i think it will be negative eligib -- small we have a situation where -- you were asking mr. n gingrey, my good friend dash. >> i know what's coming next.

>> here is a good friend. the fact is he's absolutely wrong. you have a situation where you had mr. governor romney sitting in the most comfortable position he could possibly be in along with his $50,000 donors. and he said basically that 47% of our population was dependent and were victims. >> the president did not raise that in the debate. a good opportunity to bring that up. >> the fact is that you -- you see, mr. romney feels he knows that that was extremely damaging and knows. no matter what he says, that -- that image, him sitting with the -- you know, the people drinking their wine and having a nice time, and him saying that about 47% of the population, by the way, our constituents, our veterans, our -- seniors and other folks and hard-working americans, 5:30 in the morning, that's what he said about them.

he knows that no matter what he says, it is overshadowed by that. i mean, and so i think that what he's trying to do is to come back and say you know what, i know that probably the most damaging thing i have done in this election is that. let me try to straighten it t. can you not straighten it out. i believe that's when me believes. >> let me ask you a question about this letter you wrote to true the vote. some suggested your true goal is not voter integrity but voter suppression against thousands of legitimate voters who traditionally vote for democratic candidates. what are you alleging? >> what i'm saying is true to vote has been con us issus is - consistently challenged. i believe strongly that voting is a fundamental right. it is not something that should be limited to a few people, privileged and limited to the few. and that we must address anybody who tries to deny anybody that right to vote. and i -- i consider it criminal.

i consider it unpatriotic and -- highly offensive. basically what true to vote has done is it targets in ohio. those districts where president obama was successful, 9 out of . and they challenged legitimate voters over and over again. and even the ohio secretary of state has made it clear that this is really on the verge of illegitimate activity. matter of fact, he said it's like the boy who cried wolf. >> we have reached out to true the vote for their reaction to your allegations against them and have not heard back from them. >> and you probably won't. they have already said they want a republican administration. >> and we'll see what they say when they get back to us. elijah cummings, thank you very much. two years ago, the people of bp made a commitment to the gulf.

bp has paid over twenty-three billion dollars to help those affected and to cover cleanup costs. today, the beaches and gulf are open, and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. and bp's also committed to america. we support nearly 250,000 jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. we're working to fuel america for generations to come. our commitment has never been stronger.

latino vote could be crucial on election day. empowering them to do more outreach. >> anderson cooper las vegas, presidential candidates come here to win the west. >> in october 2011, presidential candidates rolled into town with their money and their message. >> her man cain, let me start with you. would you buil an entire fence along the entire border and would you have it be electrified? >> i will build a double-walled fence. >> tough talk on immigration. >> you have enough border patrol

agents to oversee the fence and, number two, you turn off the magnets like tuition breaks or other breaks that draw people into this country illegally. >> we have a question in the audience. >> in the audience is las vegas businessmen, robert savala, a republican voter anxious to ask the question on the minds of many latino voters. >> we have 50 million latinos and not all of us are illegal. what is the message to you -- from you guys to our latino community? >> i have to all the time defend the party and say that's not all of us. our community is not only about immigration. our community is like any other community. they want jobs, better education for the kids. >> what is the message that we take to the grassroots? >> hours after the gop debate in a different session, he is still pressing his own party's leaders for answers. >> we don't know how to reach them out there. the democrats are kicking our behind. >> we need you out here, talking

to us, to the latinos. >> this woman shares his dissatisfaction. >> the republican leadership has to send a message to our community. >> what's your frustration with the republican party? >> they don't see what hispanics go through every day and how it is that the other party is taking advantage of that. they don't see it as a problem. >> you think that the republicans aren't fighting for your vote? >> exactly. >> but cecilia wants to fight for their votes and is pushing the gop leadership to join her and take their message to the latino community. >> i never see them trying to be out there and express their voices, you know. i'm not afraid to tell people what i stand for. so i want them to be with me out there, trying to teach and educate the population. >> we take a look at both the democrats and the republicans in my documentary, latino in america "courting their vote" that will air sunday at 8:00 pm

eastern and repeat at 11:00 pm eastern right on cnn. i want to update something. we were just talking to congressman elijah mmings and said that true the vote had not responded. now they have. more than happy to avail itself to the house committee on oversight and government reform. in the interim, true the vote invites congressman cummings or any other interested party in the weeks ahead. critical numbers for the jobs report are due out. how they could affect the election, that's ahead.

when you take a closer look... ...at the best schools in the world... ...you see they all have something very interesting in common. they have teachers... ...with a deeper knowledge of their subjects. as a result, their students achieve at a higher level. let's develop more stars in education. let's invest in our teachers... ...so they can inspire our students. let's solve this. these appliances could have been made here in america. but a company called global tech maximized profits by paying its workers next to nothing... under sweatshop conditions in china. when mitt romney led bain, they saw global tech as a gd investment... even knowing that the firm promoted its practice of exploiting...

low-wage labor to its investors. mitt romney - tough on china? since when? his morning starts with arthritis pain. and two pills. afternoon's overhaul starts with more pain. more pills. triple checking hydraulics. the evening brings more pain. so, back to more pills. almost done, when... hang on. stan's doctor recommended aleve. it can keep pain away all day with fewer pills than tylenol. this is rudy. who switched to aleve. and two pills for a day free of pain. ♪ [ female announcer ] and try aleve for relief from tough headaches. and the candidate's speech is in pieces all over the district. the writer's desktop and the coordinator's phone are working on a joke with local color. the secure cloud just received a revised intro from the strategist's tablet. and while i make my way into the venue, the candidate will be rehearsing off of his phone. [ candidate ] and thanks to every young face i see out there.

[ woman ] his phone is one of his biggest supporters. [ female announcer ] with cisco at the center... working together has never worked so well. welcome, everybody. our "starting pot" this morning, mitt romney admits he was completely wrong about that

47% comment. >> there are 47% of the people who will vote for president obama, who are dependent upon the government, who believe that they are victims, who believe they are entitled to health care, housing you name t. >> should have been doing a victory lap. he headed back to damage control mode. deadly meningitis outbreak is spreading. five are dead. many more could be at risk. doctors and hospitals are being alerted to check their drug supply. dozens of flights canceled as millions of american airline mechanics fix seats from popping loose mid flight. that could be uncomfortable. it's friday, october 5th and "starting point" begins right now. welcome, everybody. our team this morning, richard socar socarides, margaret hoover, who worked in the bush white house, charles blow, "new york times" columnist and john berman from "early start" sticks around,

helping with the news. revisiting that now infamous secretly recorded remark about the 47% who don't pay income tax. first he said the day -- the evening he actually -- those tapes got out, he said that those comments were not elegantly stated. now he is not standing behind those comments at all. here is what he told fox news. >> clearly in a campaign with hundreds, if not thousands of speeches and question and answer sessions, now and then you're going to say something that doesn't come out right. in this case, i said something that's just completely wrong. and i absolutely believe, however, that my life has shown that i care about 100%. >> candy crowley will be the moderator of the next presidential debate, which takes place october 16th. great to see you. let's start with this 47% thing. seems odd to me on a day that the governor could be doing a victory lap, talking about his terrific performance wednesday night, now the conversation is back to a leaked tape i imagine he would really want to forget.

>> you would think. except let's remember, a, he was asked about it. there's not much he could do. and my sense of this is that perhaps he thought the president was going to bring it up in the debate and that was the answer he had ready. i was wrong to say that, but i think if you look at my life story i've cared about 100% of the people and that's what i intend to do as president. i think that was the ready answer for if the 47% -- again, they were asked and i think the shift is quite likely how they had decided to deal with it in the debate and wanted to get it out there. >> can i just say, i think that's really good insight on candy's part. i think that's exactly right. i think he was ready to give that answer and he really wanted to give it. they really are pivoting around that. i thought your interview this morning in the earlier hour with congressman gingry was so interesting. now they are openly admitting that they are changing their thinking on this i think there's a lot of nuance in politics but there is a big difference between totally -- between

totally wrong and inelegantly stated. i think they're really going to have to face that today. >> is that pivot a problem, candy? >> well, always. and i think, again, why you want to do it now is you've got 12 days to kind of let it get into the ground water. you have -- on the other hand you do have 12 days for the white house to begin to think how the president should respond to that. but you don't actually, at this point, want that -- they thought they would be behind it -- or in front of it or whatever by the time the first debate was over. so i think they wanted to get it out quickly so by the time the 16th rolled around when they had their next debate that it had had been chewed over enough. >> i think it's a problem to characterize it even as a pivot. i think you have to, at some point, step back and say mitt romney has a tst testy relation with the truth. that is the fact of mitt romney. he is saying something that is completely different from what he said when he was secretly recorded, when he was not --

this is not before a camera. this is not kind of a tested thing. this is not in front of an interviewer. he says one thing. then he has a chance to say what he said yesterday right after it is revealed that he has said this to a private audience and that is not what he says. he didn't say i didn't say it the right way. >> ineloquently. >> i stand behind this basic principle. >> now back to candy. when i talk to congressman gingry, i think he was saying, listen, this is politics. this is how it works. you go to the right and you come back when you're talking to the general and it seemed to echo, i think, what eric said on our show, the etch-a-sketch thing, which seems like the secret that everybody in politics knows but maybe voters don't know. is that going to be problematic or is it just that that's the way it goes, go this way in the primary, come back this way, change your tune and it's okay. >> it will never be acceptable to the democrats or the folks who are watching this and

they're independents and leing democrat. here, i think, is again where you go back to what kind of election is this going to be. i think since we're looking at a close election, this is about a turnout election. and so turning out your base as well as those who lean republican is very important. what do we see in these stories coming out of the re, quote, moderate mitt romney that we see in the debate and now we see in this remark. is the base is ecstatic. they think this gives him that chance to then speak to those folks who are more receptive to that message. i think you have to look at where he's coming from. i also think he has to explain t folks can make up their minds, but you're right. this is different from inelegantly stating something and he will have to square that thing in a round pe >> i would love to ask you what you're hearing from your sources about president obama and what he's going to do in the next 12 days to really get up to speed.

>> cram. >> to really bring a totally different president obama to the debate in 12 days. what are you hearing in terms of how he's going to prepare differently? what are your sources telling you? he did so badly, of course. >> i have to say, when you first say that, there's this great tweet. i wish i could credit whoever said it. they said two words. red bull, which just cracked me up completely. >> red bull. >> but i don't really think that's what the white house is telling him or what the re-elect committee is telling him. we don't have sources to tell us this, but they do. this is a president -- and they said from the beginning, that day, what's the president going to do? they said he's going to talk to the american people. he's going to speak directly to the american people. the only problem is mitt romney was on the stage. it didn't work. not engaging him looked like he just didn't know anything. and so, you know, which we know not to be the truth. the man has been steeped in policy, one would hope, for the last almost four years. and so, you know, i think it's as simple as engage or not

engage. and i think now they're looking at it saying, okay, it's time to engage. it's time to put that stuff on the table. he didn't want to engage with mitt romney, do that whole politics thing. he wanted to do the presidential thing and talk to the middle class. they said that before the debate. he followed through. it didn't work. >> you saw him engage yesterday in the stump already yesterday. >> it was much more energetic than the actual debate. candy crowley, thank you. we appreciate that several mode up. vice presidential candidates will be up next october 11th in danville, kentucky, their only debate and in hempstead, long island, october 16th, candy crowley will be moderating that. and the third and final debate between the two presidential candidates will happen in boca raton, florida.

at least five people are dead in a fungal meningitis outbreak and nearly half the states in the country are affected. the steroid medication linked to the outbreak was sent to 23 states. more infections are possible, typically linked to treat back pain is injected in the patient's spines. the company that made the medication has now voluntarily recalled it. soda and coffee spills gunked up the seat lock mechanism, affecting the track that locked the seat to the floor. that is the odd reason that american airlines is now offering to explain why dozens of american flights have been canceled because of seats coming loose in the air. american has pulled 48 boeing 757s out of service to fix a device called a sot -- sorry, can't even say it, seat lock plunger. they are blaming poor design and spilled coffee and soda causing

these seats to become unhinged. american tourist opens fire at israeli hotel red sea resort. at least one person is dead. the gunman grabbed the security guard's weapon, shot a hotel worker and bur holed up in the hotel. security forces shot and killed the gunman. american attack on the consulate in benghazi, analyzing drone images and one-on-one interviews with people who may have information. the military is also providing security for an fbi team that is now on the ground. homeland security secretary janet napolitano heads to arizona to meet with the family of slain border patrol agent nicholas ivie. mexican authorities are questioning two men. the mexican attorney general's office say they had drugs and

guns when they were detained. actress and environmental activist daryl hannah arrested again over the keystone pipeline. she stood in front of an excavator in texas. hannah was arrested outside the white house last year in an earlier protest against the pipeline. >> she looks good in her mug shot. everybody usually looks disheveled and a hot mess. >> we can all learn some lessons there. >> she looks ready. usually the mug shots you've been out drinking. >> exactly. >> how do you prepare for your protest, richard? >> i'll help you here. still ahead on "starting point," we're a few minutes away from the big september jobs report. big campaigns are bracing for those numbers, voters wondering what it's all going to mean. we'll have that report as soon as it's released and christine romans will join us with some analysis. spin machine, mitt romney walking back his comments on the

47%. president obama in post debate damage control mode. we'll tell you how the campaigns are crafting their messages and recrafting their messages and then recrafting the recrafting of their messages.

welcome back, everybody. we're taking a look at the presidential candidate's messages and how they change them and then change them and then change them. mitt romney is adjusting his comment about the 47% who don't pay taxes. first he said he didn't state it eloquently and now he's saying he was completely wrong. after president obama's performance, some called it a drubing, others a rout and president obama was said to be uncomfortable and even subdued and those weren't the most critical reviews.

editor in chief of the daily download. nice to see both of you. everybody is trying to figure out sort of what happened. al gore, did you see this? you haven't seen this? margaret, have you to watch this. he has his take on what may have been a factor. let's play that first. >> i'm going to say something controversial here. obama arrived in denver at 2:00 pm today, just a few hours before the debate started. romney did his debate prep in denver. >> uh-huh. >> when you go to 5,000 feet it shall. >> exactly. >> -- and you only have a few hours to adjust -- >> that's interesting. >> i don't know. maybe this is it. >> let's go to margaret for that. >> you do need more red blood cells to carry more oxygen to your brain. >> so he's right? you're saying he's right. >> but that is crazy town. >> what we're seeing here is the

spin in the aftermath of that performance. >> these things are usually ludicrous and useless. ten republican spinners came t out, rudy giuliani, even while mitt romney was delivering his closing statement. they were pumped up. >> the spin thing, come on. why would you go out there? why would you even go in? you know what they're going to say. they're going to lie and say my guy did great. >> that is usually true. in this particular instance, when a couple of democratic spinners came out, one from the white house, one from the campaign, they were disspirited, robotic. >> and their guy did do great. that wasn't spin. i think that was stating clearly what 67% of people who watch the debates thought, mitt romney did great. >> i don't know why you need to do that. it's just so reporters can get a quote. that's it. >> between barack obama doing poorly and mitt romney doing really well, i don't think that mitt romney did particularly well. a lot of what he was saying was just flat-out lies. >> come on. >> let's be honest about that. >> come on.

>> you believe all of it? >> no, but i believe that the perception was because the debate was so media, a lot of people looked at the presentation. barack obama was standing on one foot. >> was the media you're talking about? >> my head was hurting. $716 billion. >> the math? the math doesn't add up. that's not actual meat. >> i would say about that, first of all, there were lots of substantive conversations and topics. i think that is the case. on some of the errors, isn't that the job of the other person on the stage to say that's not true? >> it is absolutely. the president didn't come to play on this. didn't mention the 47%. how amazing is that? >> i think next time he will mention it 47 times. >> it is also the job of the press, soledad -- we are starting to see a little bit of it, and you raised it earlier in the program, when mitt romney can't explain how his math adds up on his tax cut when he suddenly said he wants to repeal

the dodd-frank bill but now wants to keep parts of it. the president had a couple of numbers didn't add up to. that's where the media focus should be, not just about big bird and who looked down and who looked up. the press has not focused suiciently on the points. >> it's equally as important. >> equally? >> equally as important, is president obama looking romney in the eye, is obama smirking as he was alleged to? >> the mismatch here is what made it so newsworthy, that they were so mismatched. romney was really good. obama was really off. i wonder also -- you guys cover the media. do you think that the fact that the media environment that they were in, this overheated media environment really intensifies the impact of these big events? >> absolutely. look, there's no question about it. mitt romney had a stronger night. president obama didn't bring his a game.

no good, terrible night for president obama, now everybody looks back and says wow, this was a debacle. he got creamed. it wasn't that bad but the media echo chamber exaggerates that. >> i want to play what congressman gingry said to me earlier. here is a quote. primary is always going to lean right. then you come back to the center for the general. here is a little bit of our conversation. >> my question is what you said is during the campaign, you lean to the right and then you come back to the center when you're actually in the general election. so to me, that is you say one thing for a certain audience, to get them to support you, and then you say something different, maybe completely contradictory to another audience, which some could define as lying. so is that what we're seeing? >> and some could refer to that as campaign tactics. good campaign tactics without violating one's principles. >> so, i mean, ultimately, right, the media is supposed to call people on this. but it doesn't seem there's

anything they're hiding. he's saying, hi, this is politics 101. >> that was one instance in which president obama tried to call mitt romney out on the tax plan when he said i'm not going to reduce the share of what people pay but i'm going to eliminate these deductions and loopholes. i'm not going to tell you what they are. that has utterly gotten lost in all the talk about big bird and the demeanor. >> social media pys a role here. on that day in that hour and a half, there were 10.3 million tweets going on. >> most ever for a political event. >> that were really talking about that kind of stuff. twitter is the place where you say, jim lehrer said let's not. and mitt romney wants to kill big bird. and that whole social media wave, i think, influences journalists and all of the other people who are on twitter. >> we're talking about the substance of the debate, though. sorry, richard. it was a substantive debate. there's a lot of information there, lot of details, lot of

studies cited. isn't it the role of the moderator, too, to ding, ding, ding, when something goes off the rails, when he knows something isn't true, to step in and take control? >> actual dishonesty or in terms of time and format? >> on a talk show you certainly would jump in and say you said this. but last night you said this in a presidential debate, and lehrer's philosophy is let the candidates go at it, fact check each other. he he did ask good questions but basically decided to make it about them not about him. a lot of anchors don't do that. >> if you know, if you've done your homework and you know that somebody comes on that stage and say something that is in opposition to something that they've said in the past and you've done your homework, you can say i understand what you just said. however on so-and-so date -- >> then it's jim lehrer debating mitt romney and not barack obama. >> that is part of the moderator's role.

>> and then to charles as opposed to me going to commercial break. want to know what bill gates' kids are watching online? it's this. free virtual school lesson getting millions of views. we'll be talking to the guy who created khan academy.

welcome back, everybody. failures in education are part of the national discussion. khan academy, just a few years ago, he was using online education tutorials to teach his cousin. now his video lectures are

drawing 5 million unique viewers every month used by teachers in more than 15,000 classrooms around the world. >> we're going to divide these four quarters between the two of us. so notice, we have four quarters. >> so effective because of your voice. so notice we have four quarters. he receives funding from bill gates and many others in his new book called "the one world schoolhouse" he lays out a vision for the future of education. it's nice to see you. thanks for being with us. >> great to be here. >> how has the khan academy -- now you've moved into a real-world setting, using online tools? before you were using online tutorials. how is that different from your average classroom? >> now that students can get access to the information delivery part of learning, the lectures at their own time and own pace and an interaction portion where we can do problems. a lot of teachers are saying why should i use this class time for the passive i lecture, people

listen, take notes. instead we could use that for actual interactivity. it's different for every teacher, every classroom. when they come to class they're doing problem solving and the teacher is there to help them out, to tutor them and they have their peers. the classes a lot of us grew up in, if you wanted to help your peer, you would get in trouble. now it's like, no, this is what it's all about, doing problem solving, getting help from your peers, interacting with your teacher. >> how do you think a lot of classes are failing? what's wrong with the american education system in a typical classroom where it really isn't serving a student today? >> this is something i go into a lot of detail on in the book. all of the paranoia about our school system, we look at the national rankings. we're behind bosstonia, factoring polynomials. we shouldn't get complacent about that. but one thing i point out, if you look at the last 50 years,

look at the innovation in the world it's only been getting more and more concentrated in the u.s. the more innovative companies, facebook, googles, they're all coming from america. we're the most creative country, innovative. failure isn't stigmatized. instead of this model of education we have where all the students are batched together in passive lectures and they're pushed forward, this is a model inherited from prussia, a model that doesn't exist anymore. instead of trying to compare our prussian model to the prussian model in finland or singapore, we should make our model more american, make it interactive when people come to the classroom, give room for creativity. if you get a c or d, it's not about failure. it's about make it better than. >> i find it fascinating in the context of something else, which is the idea, stereotype, the idea that in some types of classrooms some kids feel like there's a threat response that they will be stereotyped if they

ask questions when they don't find -- they don't understand something. the idea that you could go back and you don't understand it, you could listen to it again on your own and then seek help at another time or in your own pace. so for girls, sometimes feel this threat when they're in math classes. they feel that african-americans feel this threat a lot of times in classes in general, that they feel like they're asking a question that they shouldn't be asking and, therefore, they don't do it. and this seems like it gets around that whole concept. am i right about that? >> you're hitting -- i think -- the core problem. in a lecture i can ask questions. i was like, no, three people have the guts to ask a question. if you're in al gentlemen bra class and you forgot to multiply decimals, there's no way you're going to raise your hand. wait, i forgot my fourth grade math. >> you have taught more classes

than harvard has offered since its founding. what is your vision for future education globally? >> we want to continue growing, we translated our content into 12 languages. it's being used around the world. we want to become more interactive and hope that the conversation isn't just about a lot of the -- within this prussian model how do we tweak the system but it's about time, it's been 200 years, we can fundamentally rethink the model. it's not this passive system. it's much more personalized. >> the book is called "the one world school house: education reimagined." i really appreciate khan academy. it has helped me so much in fifth grade and sixth grade. >> i appreciate khan academy. >> too embarrassed to ask. >> now she can. >> you can ask all those questions in the commercial break. we can work that out. still ahead on "starting point" we're waiting for that critical jobs report, the second to last one before the presidential election. we'll bring you those numbers as soon as they come out. also, of course, analysis on what it would mean on election

day. billion dollars to help those affected and to cover cleanup costs. today, the beaches and gulf are open, and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. and bp's also committed to america. we support nearly 250,000 jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. we're working to fuel america for generations to come. our commitment has never been stronger.

114,000, better than expected. the surprise is the jobless rate, which fell to 7.8%. it fell to 7.8%. we have a couple of months that have been revised. final numbers now for august and july and those numbers are better than previously reported by the bureau of labor statistics. in august, 142,000 jobs were created. in july, 181,000 jobs were created. that's another 80,000 jobs created tn we first thought. because we thought before that, you know, the month before, august, was more like 96,000. instead you've got 142,000. so this is a little better than

expected. where were the jobs created? health care again, a consistent gain gainer, health care jobs. transportation was a big winner. everything else was basically flat overall. you've been hearing a lot about the private sector pushing things forward. private sector job creation, 104,000. that means jobs were actually created in the government sector. there have been so many layoffs the past coup of years. hundreds of thousands of jobs lost in the government. we saw a little bit of job creation in the government for the month. you need to have 150,000 jobs created, 125 to 150 just to absorb new entrants into the labor market, people graduate from college, immigrants, new -- population growth. this doesn't keep up with population growth but it's a little better than wall street had thought. >> i have to imagine that the obama campaign will be trumpeting that 7.8% unemployment figure certainly. public policy at harvard. he is in boston.

nice to see you, sir. >> my pleasure. >> give me your analysis of what you just heard from christine, 114,000, 7.8% unemployment rate. >> no question that the 7.8% unemployment rate is very encouraging. the fact is that part of that is less people are looking for work and so they fall out of the workforce. but the numbers in july and august were revised up. so this isn't a game changer at all. but it certainly is a small step forward. >> tell me a little bit about what christine was just talking about. private sector versus government jobs creator. how big of a deal and how relevant is it that we have 104,000 jobs created in the private sector and a number being created in the government. >> well, on the whole, we're more excited by the private sector job creation, because that's more organic. and there's more where that came from, when that gets going whereas the government eventually runs out of money. state and local governments have

been shouting jobs like crazy. it's that that stops a little bit. we still need to look to the private sector for the main change here. >> ken, christine here. these don't change either campaign's world view, do they? >> no, they don't. i think the romney economic brain trust really thinks th they can turn growth around. if you look back to what's missing, where is he going to get revenue from that he's not saying, i think the big ideas that growth would go way up get a lot of tax revenues and it would all be great -- i don't know how realistic that is after a financial crisis. and the obama administration thinks, look, we're going to stay the course. things are getting gradually better. so let's not panic. >> well, i think that, you know, what's clear about the 7.8%, to state the obvious, it's a big number in the context, just 30

some days out of the general election. >> and the lowest number since president obama took office in 2009. >> they were praying for a number lower -- that didn't begin with an eight and they got it. this is a huge, huge -- >> to be fair, the romney folks are also going to come back and say still this recovery is more lethargic than they should have been. >> it's all true. it's all true. can i tell you however you spin it -- >> you have to start that statement with still, then you've lost. what he needed coming out of that debate performance was momentum. you needed this number to be consistent with the message that you were delivering. >> he did not get momentum out of the debate performance. >> you are not going to get it from this number. this number -- part of mitt romney's selling point has been for so many months we have had unemployment rate above 8%. you can no longer say that. and you can -- >> some of the fact checking, when they talk about the phrase, president obama promised the under 8%, which, of course, he did not promise.

people on his team did promise. that is going to be a sound bite, i think, that comes out and people are going to say here you have a number that's under 8%. it's going to be a powerful number. >> go ahead. >> a lot of economists thought it would go up to 8.3%. >> right. >> this is a world of difference that it's gone down and especially below that 8% mark. >> ken, how does 7.8% feel for americans looking for work compared with 8.1%? because, you know, 7.8% still -- still feels tough, especially for people who have been out of work six months or longer. of the unemployed, 40% have been out for at least six months. >> oh, no, absolutely. this is a small step. this isn't a widely different number. it's exactly what people were expecting, though upward revision. a lot of the gain came from people being discouraged and they're not looking for work anymore. it doesn't feel that different. nevertheless -- >> psychologically, it's hugely

different. to be at 7.8 -- i know it's not a big difference. >> political psychology. >> political psychology. >> fate has an incredible sense of irony here. democratic convention that seemed to be so good fell flat because of a bad jobs report and mitt romney's performance seemed so good may fall flas flat because of a good jobs report. >> so you're going into a holiday season. if you take -- on the ground you're seeing people get more jobs. those jobs will disappear by the time the election is over. thoes the holidays will be over. on the ground it will feel better and in addition the political psychology will be better. >> there's other things happening in the economy. europe is stabilizing. there's a rebound that christine has been talking about in the housing market. consumer confidence was up in september. so all of this, ken, does that point to sort of an optimism that is sort of based on something tangible?

>> the housing is definitely a big thing. because everybody is so sensitive to that. they've been in a state of shock about what's happening to the price of their homes, the major asset for most consumers. on the other hand, a lot of the other data is pretty mixed. i think it's still a very, very weak economy coming back from this deep financial crisis. it takes a long time. it always takes a long time. i don't think things feel great. but definitely the housing number is better and unemployment is better. >> ken, can you give us some texture on the folks that have dropped out of the workforce? is it seniors who are retiring? is it people who have just gotten sick of -- or can't find work so they've removed themselves from consideration? >> you know, some of it has nothing to do with cyclical things, exactly what you're saying. people are retiring. we have an aging workforce, after all. more people are retiring. more people are pulling out.

certainly there are people whose unemployment benefits run out and so they no longer need to say that they're looking for work. there's a mixture of these thing things going on. also seasonal factors like the summer. >> two things in here like jen and i are going through the report right now. civilian labor force rose by 418,000. that means people entering the workforce and discouraged workers actually declined, 235,000 people no longer consider themselves discouraged workers. what does that mean? >> i mean, i am surprised with the thing going down to 7.8% that the workforce actually increased. you gave the higher numbers for july and august. so i'm actually not sure of the answer to that off the top of my head. >> it will be interesting to see what the political ramifications are. it's what everybody will be talking about now that these numbers are out. ken rogoff, appreciate your time. >> thank you.

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point." a number of gas stations forced to shut down as gas prices soared to really a shocking level in california. aaa says the average price for a gallon of gas has hit $4.48. price spikes are being driven by a fuel shortage blamed on supply problems due to refinery and pipeline outages. a member of the infamous manson family may soon be out of prison. california parole board has recommended release for

69-year-old bruce davis, serving a life sentence for the murders of music teacher gary hinman and stuntman donald "shorty" shay. two years ago a california panel also granted parole to davis but that was overturned by then governor arnold schwarzenegger. 50 years ago today was the first time we heard this. silence. we've heard that for centuries, ladies and gentlemen. >> james bond. >> there you go. bond, james bond thing is what we heard 50 years ago for the first time, made his debut in "dr. no," soledad's favorite bond, sean connery. about to hit theater hads in the u.s. "skyfall" and new theme song for the movie? >> adele. ♪ let the sky fall

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welcome back to "starting point." teenage rapper "little jakes," a 13-year-old who suffers from a severe stutter. dr. sanjay gupta checks it out in today's human factor. ♪ you could go into my circle >> reporter: listening to him r rap, be you would have no idea he suffers from a speech disorder that it's so debilitating that he used to keep at himself. >> he started speaking at age of 2. single words wasn't too bad. when he would get into sentences with a couple of words, two, three words, that's when it started to come out. >> those who love jake knew he needs to get the words out. let him finish what he's speaking or saying. >> reporter: but many others tormented him had. he was bullied.

not only by his classmates but by his teachers as well. >> the one teacher was like -- i was just doing this voice in drama class and i was like, hi! and then the teacher is like -- and i had done -- i don't know what's more annoying, that voice or your stutter. >> jake's parents invested a lot of time and money into therapy for their son but nothing worked. when he was 10 years old, a profound breakthrough at a summer camp. >> i was doing this rap and i was like, hey, i'm kind -- kind of good. >> reporter: now, jake is

performing as "lil jakes" smooth as can be. the rhythm or cadence of rapping makes it easier for him to get the words out without stuttering ♪ clap your hands come on >> reporter: one night last december jake got his little break. >> i got backstage at a concert and rapped. >> reporter: jake's brother, cole, recorded the encounter and uploaded the video to youtube. so far, 2,000 views and counting. >> it's awesome. i get to go wherever he goes, meet cool people. ♪ you can't make them go away >> reporter: for all those who used to torment him, the haters, they now serve as motivation for jake, to perform for crowds of up to 20,000 people. ♪ i'm just like you i'm just a kid with a dream ♪ >> my big dream is to have fun

and to make music. and it's coming true right now. >> reporter: from jake to lil jakes, stutterer turned rapper and a role model. ♪ jakes on cnn let me introduce ♪ >> reporter: dr. sanjay gupta, cnn, reporting. >> got to love when you can work in cnn in your rap. we appreciate that, lil jakes. >> amazing. >> incredible. >> i wonder if they'll be able to sort of study that to see if you could make that somehow lessen his stutter, but figure out what he's doing in the rapping that could possibly help. that's fascinating. wow! great little kid. >> amazing kid. >> great story. >> "end point" is up next.

final segment this morning, we want to, once again, update you on that new unemployment numbers, 114,000 jobs created in the month of september. unemployment rate has fallen from 8.1% to 7.8%. that would be the lowest number since january 2009, when president obama was taking office. so, our "end point," christine, we'll let you start. >> more people entered the workforce last month, too, which is a little bit of a surprise. you had had more people coming in, trying to get jobs. it shows companies are starting to hire again and people are more confident about trying to find work. >> last month was even better than we thought it was, right? they revised two months of

numbers, correct? >> 86,000 extra jobs we didn't know about. >> i think this is a huge break for president obama right now. >> politically. >> politically. they didn't want to have to for now 16 days between now and the next debate, talk about his poor performance. now they can talk about this performance. >> wages have stayed basically the same. does that mean anything? >> 60% of the jobs created in the recovery have been $13 or less. so the jobs we are replacing are not necessarily the high-wage jobs. you're right. >> government jobs are up? >> government jobs three months in a row have risen, which surprises me. >> that's a good thing. >> of course you think that. >> charles, last word on our "end point" this morning? >> this is fantastic for the obama administration, for the obama campaign. it breaks the back of the mitt romney that forever we've had an unemployment rate over 8%. >> changes the conversation as well. >> changes the conversation and momentum mitt romney had coming out of that debate.